Man City to play UEFA Cup tie at Deepdale

The Citizens are looking for an alternative venue for their first qualifying round tie on either July 17 or 31 as the pitch at their Eastlands home requites extra time to recover from a summer of events including concerts and boxing matches.

Huddersfield Town's Galpharm Stadium is also believed to be under consideration by the hierarchy at the Premier League club.

"Deepdale is a superb stadium less than an hour away from Manchester and we've had tentative discussions with Preston about the possibility of staging the tie," a club spokesman told the Lancashire Evening Post.